The present invention relates to a telescopic pull-out arrangement comprising two telescopic extension slides, each having a fixed rail and at least one movable rail mounted to a common frame, and a storage section, such as a tray or box, which is held on the movable rails via at least one pair of adapters. Such a telescopic pull-out arrangement, used for retaining and guiding a pull-out box in a refrigerator, is described e.g. in DE 10 2005 021 591 A1.
Telescopic extension slides are known in the form of part extension slides and full extension slides. A part extension slide comprises a pair of rails that can move counter to one another. As the rails must not completely disengage when they are pulled apart, the freedom of movement of the rails of a part extension slide relative to one another is less than their length.
In order to achieve greater freedom of movement, full extension slides are used. These comprise, between a fixed rail and a movable rail provided for supporting a storage section, a second movable rail which is in engagement with the two abovementioned rails. Although an intermediate rail of this kind enables a freedom of movement of the telescopic extension slide to be achieved that is greater than the length of each of its individual rails, when pulled apart the movable rails may also swing back and forth transversely to the pull-out direction, which compromises the stability of the storage section on the telescopic extension slides.
In a telescopic pull-out arrangement with part extension slides supporting the storage section, it can be ensured that the storage section is firmly seated on the rails by using a fixed bearing on one side of the storage section and a movable bearing on the other side. At the fixed bearing, the movable rail and the storage section engage with one another in a form-fit manner so that the position of rail and storage section relative to one another is tightly toleranced. On the movable rail of the other part extension slide, the storage section is supported with transverse play with respect to the pull-out direction, so that manufacturing tolerances in the dimensions of the storage section or in the spacing of the two telescopic extension slides from one another can be compensated.
In telescopic pull-out arrangements with full extension slides, there must likewise be transverse play with respect to the pull-out direction between storage section and at least one of the movable rails in order to compensate for dimensional tolerances. However, this play must be limited in order to ensure that, in the pulled-out configuration, the storage section still rests securely on the rails and cannot slide off. For this purpose adapters, which for cost reasons must be identical on both extension slides, are provided between the movable rails on the one hand and the storage section on the other. If the storage section and adapters engage in one another in a tightly toleranced manner, dimensional tolerances can no longer be compensated. Resultant stressing of the telescopic extension slides in the horizontal direction transversely to the pull-out direction puts considerable wear and tear on the extension slides. However, if transverse play with respect to the pull-out direction is provided between the storage section and the two adapters, the storage section as a whole will no longer be firmly anchored.